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Drilling continues
North Slope development drilling at a relatively normal level last year
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
According to drilling data published by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, 61 development wells were completed on the North Slope in 2024. That compares with 46 completions in 2023, 71 in 2022, 26 in 2021 and 39 in 2020. Seven exploration wells, including a pilot hole and sidetrack well, were completed on the North Slope in 2024.
(See chart in the online issue PDF)
In the Cook Inlet basin 18 development wells were completed in 2024. That represents a significant increase from 10 development wells drilled in 2023. There were 19 completions in 2022, nine in 2021 and 10 in 2020.
North Slope development wells Hilcorp Alaska dominated the development well drilling on the North Slope in 2024 -- the company completed a total of 39 wells. Of these wells, 19 were drilled in the Prudhoe Bay field, 18 in the Milne Point field and two in the Endicott field.
In its 2024 plan of development for the Prudhoe Bay initial participating area, the core Prudhoe Bay field, Hilcorp had indicated an intention of conducting a significant drilling program to enhance oil production. In the Milne Point field the company has been conducting a major development program for a number of years, with drilling particularly targeting the Schrader Bluff formation. Hilcorp had also filed a plan to drill up to two wells at Endicott in 2024.
ConocoPhillips completed 17 development wells: 10 in the Kuparuk River unit, one in the Colville River unit and six in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit. In the Kuparuk River unit the company has been focusing on the drilling required for the development of the new Torok participating area in the northwest sector of the unit. The Colville River unit well targeted the Alpine oil pool, while the drilling of the Greater Mooses Tooth wells, in the northeastern National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, presumably reflected continuing development in that unit.
Oil Search completed three new development wells in 2024 as part of its Pikka field development. The company anticipates the possibility of first production from the field at the end of this year. Mustang Holding completed two development wells at the Southern Miluveach unit to the west of the Kuparuk River field. The company has been actively moving ahead with the development of the Mustang field in the unit, with oil production from the field starting at the end of 2024.
North Slope injection wells In 2024 30 injection wells were drilled on the North Slope, the same number as in the previous year. All of the wells were drilled for injecting fluids into field reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery. Hilcorp drilled 12 of these wells, two in the Prudhoe Bay unit and the remainder in the Milne Point unit. For several years the company has been using polymer injection to boost production of relatively viscous oil in the Milne Point field. ConocoPhillips completed 11 injection wells, two in the Greater Mooses Tooth unit and the remainder in the Kuparuk River unit. Oil Search drilled seven injection wells as part of its Pikka field development.
North Slope exploration drilling In 2024 Lagniappe Alaska completed three exploratory wells in the eastern North Slope as part of a project to investigate oil production potential from an oil play analogous to the Nanushuk play in the western North Slope. The company recently reported successful oil flow testing from one of its exploration wells.
Savant Alaska, a Glacier Oil and Gas Corp. company, drilled an exploration well with a pilot hole and sidetrack well, near the Badami oil field. ConocoPhillips drilled an exploration well in the Colville River unit from the CD5 pad in the northeastern NPR-A, as part of an effort to push oil development westward in the region.
Cook Inlet drilling Of the 18 development wells completed in the Cook Inlet basin in 2024, one was drilled by Furie Operating Alaska in its Kitchen Lights Unit. The remainder were all drilled by Hilcorp Alaska in several fields. All of the Cook Inlet development wells targeted natural gas resources. Of the Hilcorp wells, five were drilled in the Beluga River field, four in the Kenai field, one at Cannery Loop, four in the North Cook Inlet field, one at Pretty Creek and two in the Beaver Creek field. One of the Kenai field wells was drilled as part of a gas storage facility in the field.
Furie's drilling came as part of a continuing effort to increase production from the Kitchen Lights gas field.
No injection wells were completed in the Cook Inlet basin in 2024.
Despite its focus on maximizing production from existing oil and gas fields, in 2024 Hilcorp drilled two exploration wells, the Whiskey Gulch and Cottonfield wells, south of Kasilof on the Kenai Peninsula. These were presumably searching for new gas resources. The company also drilled 17 stratigraphic test wells, seven at Whiskey Gulch, five at Happy Creek and five at Starlight, all near the Ninilchik and Anchor Point areas of the southern Kenai Peninsula. Hilcorp often follows a strategy of drilling relatively shallow stratigraphic test wells, to evaluate the potential for full scale exploration drilling in an area.
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